Zprávy památkové péče 2018, 78(6):650-656 | DOI: 10.56112/zpp.2018.6.10

Italian Baroque vedute in the mobiliary fond of the Buchlovice State Castle

Zuzana Macurová, Zdeňka Míchalová

NPÚ, ÚOP v Brně

The mobiliary funds of the Czech National Heritage Institute include a vast collection of early modern vedute, especially as drawings and graphic works. An important part of this type of media is stored in the graphics collection of the Buchlovice State Castle. A particular highlight is the large collection of 18th century Italian graphic works that capture distinctive cities and artistic monuments of the Italian Peninsula.
The creation of the Buchlovice graphic collection is related to the collecting activities of the family of Count Berchtold, who owned the estates from 1800. The first owner was Leopold I Berchtold (1759-1809). This enlightened aristocrat, philanthropist, and traveler had the opportunity to enrich his collection during his seventeen-year travels, during which he visited many of Europe's cultural centers and stayed in many of them for a long time. His largest acquisitions occurred during the second half of the 19th century and the first two decades of the 20th century. Zikmund II (1834-1900), a Moravian and Imperial politician residing primarily in Buchlovice and Vienna, took advantage of local Central European arts markets and auctions for purchases. We have a number of auction catalogs in the Buchlovice Castle Library from the given period which were provably used for purchases. His son Leopold II (1863-1942) worked as an Austro-Hungarian diplomat in France, England, and Russia, and in the years 1912-1915 he held the post of Foreign Minister. His career involved frequent travel, with his more frequent and popular destinations being the Italian Peninsula. We know that not only did Leopold travel to Italy, but he also maintained contacts with the Italian arts market. The building and interior modifications of the Buchlovice castle that began at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries also reflect the Count's fondness for Italian architecture and art in general. The Count wanted the building modifications to transform the castle into a sort of Italian Baroque villa. Berchtold's intense interest in the graphic collection is testified by the fact that had a graphic room set up and located in a space specially selected for this purpose at the beginning of the 20th century.
The collection contains over 1,000 inventory units described as vedute. The most important group in this set are Italian Baroque prints, mostly including depictions of Rome and several other Italian cities. The oldest Roman vedute in the collection are two works published in 1600 by a Netherlander working in Rome, Nicolas van Aelst. Other prominent authors include Baroque graphic personages such as Giovanni Battista Falda and Giusppe Vasi. Vasi's work in the collection is represented by two hundred vedute from a 1786 edition. It is archived, however, that the Berchtold collection was also part of the ten-volume album Magnificenze di Roma antica e moderna published in 1747-1761. The collection also includes a cross-section of the works of Giovanni Battista Piranesi, whose vedute include twenty views of Roman churches, palaces, and ancient monuments. The small but representative set of Piranesi vedute is also complemented by the Map of Rome with Campus Martius. As for other Italian cities, Venice is significantly featured in the album of Michele Marieschi, and Vicenza in the Christofora dall'Acqua album. The entire ensemble illustrates the transformation of the genre from 1600 until the end of the 18th century, when vedute by the most important authors of the mid-18th century were repeatedly published.

Keywords: mobiliary funds, Buchlovice Castle, vedute, Baroque art

Published: December 1, 2018  Show citation